*mean*

v. t. To make mean; to lower. C. Reade. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Cadmeus, Gr. Kadmei^os, from Ka`dmos (L. Cadmus), which name perhaps means lit. a man from the East; cf. Heb. qedem east. ] Of or pertaining to Cadmus, a fabulous prince of Thebes, who was said to have introduced into Greece the sixteen simple letters of the alphabet -- α, β, γ, δ, ε, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν, ο, π, ρ, σ, τ, υ. These are called Cadmean letters. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cadmean victory, a victory that damages the victors as much as the vanquished; probably referring to the battle in which the soldiers who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus slew each other. Similar to a Pyhrric victory. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Demeaned p. pr. & vb. n. Demeaning. ] [ OF. demener to conduct, guide, manage, F. se démener to struggle; pref. dé- (L. de) + mener to lead, drive, carry on, conduct, fr. L. minare to drive animals by threatening cries, fr. minari to threaten. See Menace. ] 1. To manage; to conduct; to treat. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Our ] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have demeaned themselves
Like men born to renown by life or death. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. demene. See Demean, v. t. ] 1. Management; treatment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Vile demean and usage bad. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With grave demean and solemn vanity. West. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Demesne. ] 1. Demesne. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. Resources; means. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

You know
How narrow our demeans are. Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Demeanor. [ Obs. ] Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also demeanour. ] [ For demeanure, fr. demean. See Demean, v. t. ] 1. Management; treatment; conduct. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

God commits the managing so great a trust . . . wholly to the demeanor of every grown man. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behavior; deportment; carriage; bearing; mien. [ 1913 Webster ]

His demeanor was singularly pleasing. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The men, as usual, liked her artless kindness and simple refined demeanor. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Behavior. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Intended beforehand; premeditated. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to ancient Idumea, or Edom, in Western Asia. -- n. An inhabitant of Idumea, an Edomite. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Something done in the meantime; interlude. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A wealthy person.
Syn. -- rich man, wealthy man. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Meant p. pr. & vb. n. Meaning. ] [ OE. menen, AS. m&aemacr_;nan to recite, tell, intend, wish; akin to OS. mēnian to have in mind, mean, D. meenen, G. meinen, OHG. meinan, Icel. meina, Sw. mena, Dan. mene, and to E. mind. √104. See Mind, and cf. Moan. ] 1. To have in the mind, as a purpose, intention, etc.; to intend; to purpose; to design; as, what do you mean to do? [ 1913 Webster ]

What mean ye by this service ? Ex. xii. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good. Gen. 1. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am not a Spaniard
To say that it is yours and not to mean it. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To signify; to indicate; to import; to denote. [ 1913 Webster ]

What mean these seven ewe lambs ? Gen. xxi. 29. [ 1913 Webster ]

Go ye, and learn what that meaneth. Matt. ix. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To have a purpose or intention. [ Rare, except in the phrase to mean well, or ill. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Meaner superl. Meanest. ] [ OE. mene, AS. m&aemacr_;ne wicked; akin to mān, a., wicked, n., wickedness, OS. mēn wickedness, OHG. mein, G. meineid perjury, Icel. mein harm, hurt, and perh. to AS. gem&aemacr_;ne common, general, D. gemeen, G. gemein, Goth. gamáins, and L. communis. The AS. gem&aemacr_;ne prob. influenced the meaning. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Destitute of distinction or eminence; common; low; vulgar; humble. “Of mean parentage.” Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself. Is. ii. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Wanting dignity of mind; low-minded; base; destitute of honor; spiritless; as, a mean motive. [ 1913 Webster ]

Can you imagine I so mean could prove,
To save my life by changing of my love ? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Roman legions and great Caesar found
Our fathers no mean foes. J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Of poor quality; as, mean fare. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Penurious; stingy; close-fisted; illiberal; as, mean hospitality. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Mean is sometimes used in the formation of compounds, the sense of which is obvious without explanation; as, meanborn, mean-looking, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Base; ignoble; abject; beggarly; wretched; degraded; degenerate; vulgar; vile; servile; menial; spiritless; groveling; slavish; dishonorable; disgraceful; shameful; despicable; contemptible; paltry; sordid. See Base. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. mene, OF. meiien, F. moyen, fr. L. medianus that is in the middle, fr. medius; akin to E. mid. See Mid. ] 1. Occupying a middle position; middle; being about midway between extremes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Being of middle age and a mean stature. Sir. P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Intermediate in excellence of any kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

According to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or lowly. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Math.) Average; having an intermediate value between two extremes, or between the several successive values of a variable quantity during one cycle of variation; as, mean distance; mean motion; mean solar day. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mean distance (of a planet from the sun) (Astron.), the average of the distances throughout one revolution of the planet, equivalent to the semi-major axis of the orbit. --
Mean error (Math. Phys.), the average error of a number of observations found by taking the mean value of the positive and negative errors without regard to sign. --
Mean-square error, or
Error of the mean square (Math. Phys.), the error the square of which is the mean of the squares of all the errors; -- called also, mean square deviation, mean error. --
Mean line. (Crystallog.) Same as Bisectrix. --
Mean noon, noon as determined by mean time. --
Mean proportional (between two numbers) (Math.), the square root of their product. --
Mean sun, a fictitious sun supposed to move uniformly in the equator so as to be on the meridian each day at mean noon. --
Mean time, time as measured by an equable motion, as of a perfect clock, or as reckoned on the supposition that all the days of the year are of a mean or uniform length, in contradistinction from apparent time, or that actually indicated by the sun, and from sidereal time, or that measured by the stars. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. That which is mean, or intermediate, between two extremes of place, time, or number; the middle point or place; middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium; absence of extremes or excess; moderation; measure. [ 1913 Webster ]

But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a mean in all things. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The extremes we have mentioned, between which the wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are correlatives. I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) A quantity having an intermediate value between several others, from which it is derived, and of which it expresses the resultant value; usually, unless otherwise specified, it is the simple average, formed by adding the quantities together and dividing by their number, which is called an arithmetical mean. A geometrical mean is the nth root of the product of the n quantities being averaged. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That through which, or by the help of which, an end is attained; something tending to an object desired; intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or coagent; instrument. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the conversion of the heathen to Christ. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In this sense the word is usually employed in the plural form means, and often with a singular attribute or predicate, as if a singular noun. [ 1913 Webster ]

By this means he had them more at vantage. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

What other means is left unto us. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. Hence: Resources; property, revenue, or the like, considered as the condition of easy livelihood, or an instrumentality at command for effecting any purpose; disposable force or substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your means are very slender, and your waste is great. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mus.) A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between the soprano and base; a middle part. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The mean is drowned with your unruly base. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Meantime; meanwhile. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A mediator; a go-between. [ Obs. ] Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

He wooeth her by means and by brokage. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

By all means, certainly; without fail; as, go, by all means. --
By any means, in any way; possibly; at all. [ 1913 Webster ] If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Phil. iii. ll. [ 1913 Webster ] --
By no means, or
By no manner of means, not at all; certainly not; not in any degree. [ 1913 Webster ] The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so good as that on the other. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. Maeander, orig., a river in Phrygia, proverbial for its many windings, Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. méandre. ] 1. A winding, crooked, or involved course; as, the meanders of the veins and arteries. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

While lingering rivers in meanders glide. Sir R. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A tortuous or intricate movement. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Arch.) Fretwork. See Fret. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To wind, turn, or twist; to make flexuous. Dryton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Meandered p. pr. & vb. n. Meandering. ] To wind or turn in a course or passage; to be intricate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Maeandrius: cf. F. méandrien. ] Winding; having many turns. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL.: cf. F. méandrine. ] (Zool.) A genus of corals with meandering grooves and ridges, including the brain corals. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Winding; flexuous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. That which is meant or intended; intent; purpose; aim; object; as, a mischievous meaning was apparent. [ 1913 Webster ]

If there be any good meaning towards you. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is signified, whether by act lanquage; signification; sense; import; as, the meaning of a hint. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Sense; power of thinking. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Mean"ing*less, a. -- Mean"ing*ly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Having a meaning or purpose; having significance; as, a meaningful explanation; a meaningful discussion; a meaningful pause; to live a meaningful life. Opposite of meaningless. [ Narrower terms: comprehensible, understandable; indicative, significative, suggestive ; meaty, substantive ; purposeful ] Also See: purposeful, significant, important. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the quality of having great meaning or value. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. having no meaning; of no value; as, a meaningless endeavor; a meaningless life; a meaningless explanation. Opposite of meaningful. [ Narrower terms: insignificant ; mindless, unmeaning ; nonsense(prenominal), nonsensical ; pointless, purposeless ] Also See: insignificant, unimportant, purposeless, unimportant. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. [ Mean middle. ] Moderately. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A man meanly learned himself, but not meanly affectioned to set forward learning in others. Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ From Mean low. ] In a mean manner; unworthily; basely; poorly; ungenerously. [ 1913 Webster ]

While the heaven-born child
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Would you meanly thus rely
On power you know I must obey ? Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

We can not bear to have others think meanly of them [ our kindred ]. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The condition, or quality, of being mean; want of excellence; poorness; lowness; baseness; sordidness; stinginess. [ 1913 Webster ]

This figure is of a later date, by the meanness of the workmanship. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A mean act; as, to be guilty of meanness. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of a mean spirit; petty; small-minded; base; groveling; -- of people. -- Mean"-spir`it*ed*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

2. Done for malevolent reasons; -- of deeds and actions.
Syn. -- base, contemptible, currish, mean, meanspirited, scurvy. [WordNet 1.5]

imp. & p. p. of Mean. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time). [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } adv. In the intervening time; during the interval. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To behave ill; -- with a reflexive pronoun; as, to misdemean one's self. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One guilty of a misdemeanor. Sydney Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Ill behavior; evil conduct; fault. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) A crime less than a felony. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ As a rule, in the old English law, offenses capitally punishable were felonies; all other indictable offenses were misdemeanors. In common usage, the word crime is employed to denote the offenses of a deeper and more atrocious dye, while small faults and omissions of less consequence are comprised under the gentler name of misdemeanors. Blackstone.

The distinction, however, between felonies and misdemeanors is purely arbitrary, and is in most jurisdictions either abrogated or so far reduced as to be without practical value. Cf. Felony. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Misdeed; misconduct; misbehavior; fault; trespass; transgression. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Nemeus, fr. Nemea, Gr. Neme`h. ] Of or pertaining to Nemea, in Argolis, where the ancient Greeks celebrated games, and Hercules killed a lion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Permeant. ] Permeation; specif. (Magnetism), the reciprocal of reluctance. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. permeans, p. pr. ] Passing through; permeating. [ R. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Pygmean. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. pygmaeus. See Pygmy. ] Of or pertaining to a pygmy; resembling a pygmy or dwarf; dwarfish; very small. “ Like that Pygmean race.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pygmy antelope (Zool.), the kleeneboc. --
Pygmy goose (Zool.), any species of very small geese of the genus Nettapus, native of Africa, India, and Australia. --
Pygmy owl (Zool.), the gnome. --
Pygmy parrot (Zool.), any one of several species of very small green parrots (Nasiternæ), native of New Guinea and adjacent islands. They are not larger than sparrows. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A Ramist. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To give meaning to; to explain the meaning of; to interpret. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. remeans, -antis, p. pr. of remeare to go or come back. ] Coming back; returning. [ R. ] “Like the remeant sun.” C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. (Eccl. Hist.) A member of the ancient church of Christians established on the Malabar coast of India, which some suppose to have been originally founded by the Apostle Thomas. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having no meaning or signification; as, unmeaning words. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not indicating intelligence or sense; senseless; expressionless; as, an unmeaning face. [ 1913 Webster ]

There pride sits blazoned on the unmeaning brow. Trumbull. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Un*mean"ing*ly, adv. -- Un*mean"ing*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not meant or intended; unintentional. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]